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The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has observed a serious lapse in the provision of access to education under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) bursaries component.
MDC Chairperson for Disabilities, Sarah Brotherton, said the CDF bursaries were not benefitting special education learners in the country.
Brotherton made the observations in a statement issued in Lusaka on Saturday.
She said MDC had observed that learners requiring special education have not adequately benefited from the CDF Secondary Boarding and Skills Development Bursaries in the last two years.
“Government through these bursaries seeks to provide access to quality and equitable education to the vulnerable and marginalized people,” Brotherton said.
She said MDC, however, felt that persons with disabilities had been left out in benefiting from this good facility provided by government.
Brotherton noted a total of 260 special education schools in Zambia existed as of September 24, 2023.
“However, only a handful of learners sponsored under CDF that are accessing education, while no known numbers of beneficiaries are accessing skills development bursaries,” she said.
Brotherton challenged local authorities who were mandated to manage the CDF to seriously prioritize Special Education learners in the award of primary, secondary and skills training bursaries.
She said not doing so would imply segregation at local level by the Councils because it was MDC’s belief that all districts had learners with special needs and may be out of school.
“The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 4 provides that by 2030, all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes,” Brotherton said.
She stated that CDF as a game changer was the only catalyst that the country had to meet certain economic goals.
Brotherton added that this would further enhance the country’s ability to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 8 that seeks to have a world fully inclusive of persons with disabilities by the year 2030.
“We urge the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to take seriously our call and ensure that Councils have a minimum of 10 percent of bursary beneficiaries for each allocation in every Constituency using the CDF,” she said.
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